Elizabeth Sudmeier

Sudmeier was born in Timber Lake, South Dakota, close to the Great Sioux Nation. Her father was fluent in the Sioux language. Sudmeier returned to South Dakota in 1933, where she worked as an English teacher for five years. She joined a bank in 1935, where she worked as a secretary. == Career ==

In World War II Sudmeier joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps as a corporal. She had assignments in Edmonton and Fairbanks. She was awarded the World War II Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal. Sudmeier was one of few women in the Junior Officer Trainee program in the 1950s. She worked as a reports operator, managing the Stations' Foreign Intelligence production. A report about the role of women in the CIA, which became known as the Petticoat Panel, was commissioned by Allen Dulles after a group of women employees questioned the gender pay gap. At the time, men were paid considerably more than women, and comments such as "Women are not qualified to perform in those positions which they do not now occupy,” were commonplace. == Awards & Accomplishments ==

• Received Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1962. • Selected as one of the 2013 CIA Trailblazers. == References ==